1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to handcuff assemblies for selectively locking a prisoner's wrists substantially together.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, various handcuff assemblies have been developed. See, for example, Tompkins, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,966,797; Smith, U.S. Pat. 3,618,345; and Lai, U.S. Pat. 4,089,195. None of the above patents disclose or suggest the present invention.
Typical handcuffs now used by law enforcement officers are normally joined together by a chain link assembly. However, such chain link assemblies are disadvantageous because they fail to restrict the movement of a prisoner's hands and are susceptible to being broken at the swivel if the prisoner, through manipulation of his hands, causes the swivel to become locked or otherwise non-rotatable and then exerts sufficient torque on the swivel causing it to break. The handcuffs themselves can be used for leverage to break the swivel thereby freeing the prisoner's arms.
Also, law enforcement officers are encountering a large number of prisoner's who have keys to the handcuff assemblies. Officers are not always able to discover handcuff keys hidden on a prisoner's person due to the haste of an arrest search. The officer is thereby endangered if the prisoner, who is thought to be restrained, escapes from the handcuffs with the aid of a hidden key or the like. Officers are also finding that a prisoner handcuffed by typical handcuff assemblies can reach into his pockets and remove evidence and dispose of it or otherwise destroy it before the prisoner can be more thoroughly searched at headquarters. Further, a prisoner's whose hands have been handcuffed behind his back with a typical handcuff assembly can often slip his hands from behind his back and bring them in front of him (i.e., "step through" the handcuff assembly) thereby allowing more freedom of movement in escaping from the handcuff assembly, etc.